I think
it can be officially said that i am over my fear of applique!
I still think quilting is more fun and it certainly doesn't waste
as much fabric.
This kite started out as a little rubber stamp.
I scanned it,
stretched it
(mostly the
bottom half)
and decided to
make a kite
out of it.
To get the image on the kite, I print it onto transparency film, mount the film in a slide mount and use a slide projector to enalrge it. If you put the projector on the paint tray of a ladder, it lets you work at eye level and avoid keystoning (when the image is wider at the top than the bottom).
I did the sewing in four sections and then joined the sections. This makes for much easier sewing of the individual sections (five layers is a lot to push through the throat of the machine while sewing a smooth curve), but joining the sections made for some annoying alignment problems.
I
do my best work under pressure (actually it is the only way i
ever get anything done). I made this kite in one week for the
BASKL kitemaking competition. As if that wasn't enough pressure,
I also made a fighter box for the Berkeley Boat Auction. I'd
go back and forth between the woodshop (garage) and the sewing
table (er... dining room table). Once the sewing was done i had
to cut away all the layers. The cutting alone was over 14 hours!!!
Then i still had to reinforce, edge bind, sew on pockets, frame
and bridle not to mention make the tail. I didn't sleep much.
I finished at 2:30 AM the friday before the competition, got a few hours of sleep and headed out for two days of sun, fun and crowds. By the end of the weekend i was spent. BTW - I came in second!